Something Worth Looking For
by Eruantale
Summary: An AU following the idea that Mutou Sogoruko did what archaeologists do--turned what he found to a museum. Years later, Yuugi borrows his grandfather's findings in an attempt to discover who this Nameless Pharaoh is.


Haha! About time, you say? WELL! 

Forget you guys. XD;; 

All right. I'm finally writing. Are you all happy now?! Fine! Here it is! Trash it! Flame it! Insult it! Whatever you like! It's only the prologue after all! 

But be warned. It'll become more than that if I actually continue writing. Don't expect to hear an immense amount from myself though. I'm not that big on Author's Notes.

A few things to consider though.

I use Japanese names, not dub. But I do not use what I call "Otaku Japanese" (yes, yes, that in and of itself is "Otaku Japanese", I know. It's the whole sarcasm thing) which would be the use of Japanese for no apparent reason than to…just have it there. I will go by the Japanese names though, as I said.

Another thing. Please don't come to me, begging for certain pairings. I will definitely not be doing shonen-ai or yaoi (sorry, girls!), and if there are to be any pairings, they won't be anywhere near the focus. 

Telling me that you want updates isn't going to make me update either. No, I'm not trying to sound harsh, but I prefer it that the review doesn't just consist of "OMG, LIKE, UPDATE!!!11" Please, please, PLEASE, if you can, give some constructive criticism. I don't think highly of my work. In fact, I'm only putting this up because of my friend, White Angel. She insisted. Thanks to her also for beta reading. I'm normally the one who does that, but I don't trust myself to judge my own work.

Yes, this is incredibly short. Don't tell me that because I already know. It _is,_ after all, just the prologue. I like being concise and to the point when it comes to background information.

Aaaaand…if there's anything more, I'll say so later. But other than that, I won't be saying much at all because author's notes aren't my thing.

Summary: The college years are over and done with, and Yuugi has decided that Egyptology and archaeology, the same things his grandfather specialized in, are the roads to take. Puzzle pieces fit together slowly after he visits a museum with…a _special_ exhibit, and he and his friends (or some that aren't quite friends) embark to Egypt to uncover the mystery behind this Nameless Pharaoh. AU/action/adventure, non-yaoi

Disclaimer: Far be it from my status to actually own _Yuugiou: Duel Monsters.._. We all know who it belongs to anyway.          

**_Something Worth Looking For_**

_Desecration and Retribution_

"An early death…was it, Pharaoh?" Circling around the sarcophagus, the man traced his fingers over the gilded object. "Pitiful. Only because it wasn't by my hand." Forcefully, he shoved the lid off to reveal what was inside. The cover fell to the ground with a loud ringing, raising up the dust and dirt that had lain undisturbed. Inside was all that was left of the previous pharaoh, wrapped up like some morbid gift to the gods. The linen cloth was quickly browning, after only a few days of captivity in the elaborate "box." The man smirked. "Did they ever find out? Did they know? Why so young? Why so early?" 

            A glint of a knife appeared in the man's hand. He drew it out into full view of whatever immortals were there to see. "Or did they question at all, believing their gods had taken you early for a reason? That you were somewhere better now, and why mourn?" A quick flick of the hand and there was a gash marring the mummy. It cut through the cloth bonds and into the decayed corpse, but not deep enough. Never deep enough for the man. "That at the Hall of Maat, your heart would be weighed and found just! Found perfect, the epitome of a god's son!" His voice slowly rose until the room echoed with his shouts and his lacerating of the cadaver. But his anger was short lived and subsided like the abrupt end of a storm. 

A malicious smile curved across his dark face, and a low chuckle slipped out from his lips. "But what would they know? The people of your land. Do they know what your father did? What _you_ did? And for that, does your name deserve to be remembered? Besides…" The dagger disappeared behind folds of cloth, and he switched the torch to his other hand. "Your beliefs—your pathetic, imbecilic beliefs—are that being forgotten is worse than anything. Because then it would be like you never existed. And if I cut you off from going to your paradise, my judgment is swift. But if I take you directly _out_ of your paradise, had you already reached it, all the better my retribution." A glance around the room revealed the pots and the food and the supplies. Everything for the journey the pharaoh would make in the afterlife. "And watch now. If your beliefs are true, your ship will slowly sink and your name will be forever lost. And my vengeance will be complete." The torch was raised, and the caustic materials of the room were soon dancing with flames. The walls were charring and blackening, the images being drowned in smoke and soot, yet the words seemed to stand out all the more. All the beautiful, abhorrent, fallacious praise. Like a white flame himself, the man practically danced about finding the exact characters grouped together and violently effaced and scraped them all away, be there fire in his way or the spirits that guarded this so-called great son of god. A ring of fire, the whole thing. Everywhere. And at the very center was the desecrated body in its coffin. 

The man stood there, a manic gleam in his eyes, a crazy grin splitting his face. He was not one to believe in the fanatical religion of death that these Egyptians believed, but should it be true, he was only taking his time to savor the moments, imagining the soul of this ruler before him, drowning, falling, fading. He lowered the torch now to ignite the cloth that wound about the body. 

"There's someone down there!"

What?! Who was there? How would they have known? No one entered this far into the tomb after burial. It was forbidden, it was not permissible, disallowed, illegal! Whatever it was, it was intruding on his revenge. 

"Quick, over here! There's smoke!"

He knew well enough how tombs were constructed. He knew how this burial place was built and what it took to get anywhere. Who had dared come in, how had they made it here, and—

Never mind all that. The man half snarled in anger and half sneered in contempt for the half burning corpse. He could still imagine it. The soul drowning in the river to the afterlife, and as it did, burning, flaming, becoming an ash nothing. Better yet, that same soul enjoying it's bliss in that paradise and being charred and seared and disappearing to cinders. How he would cherish that image. Forever wasn't long enough for that pharaoh. He would not be remembered. Not if the man could help it. He would take life from the immortal by taking their name.

A giant snake's head appeared and slithered around the man's figure. He was grinning now, a mad grin. "No matter." He tossed the torch into the sarcophagus. "It may not be a complete justice. Barely enough for me. But should we meet again, only one of us will recognize the other." The man slowly disappeared as did the man-snake that had coiled about him. "Fare thee well. I hope the afterlife treated you well for what time you had there, Nameless Pharaoh." With that, Bakura was gone.


End file.
